Bars and Cars

I have reallized that I may have mentioned stopping in at bars a lot and I´m wondering if I´m giving the wrong impression. Years ago when I lived in Spain my parents came for a visit. After they returned home I had a letter from my sister that said,"It sounds like Mom and Dad had fun in Spain, from what I can gather the three of you spent most of the time hanging out in bars." I guess she was picturing us in a smoky bar slamming whiskey shots. Cafe might be a better word but especially in the small villages the bar is the social center. In the morning people go in for coffee and maybe a pastry, later in the morning a tapa and a wine, in the afternoon the same and maybe in the evening a drink or meal. They are full of old people, kids, teenagers, moms, dads, infants, etc. Sunday, for example, on my very hard walk to Burgos, I was getting very hungry. In the one village the bar was closed so I was relieved to find an open bar in the next village. I went in and had to holler to find someone there. I got a ham bocadillo and a juice and was on my own. A couple of minutes later an old man came in carrying a branch. Then two kids came in carrying branches (at this point I figured out it was Palm Sunday and here, the evidently get some sort of azalea branch rather than a palm frond). Within about 10 minutes the tiny bar was packed with what I can assume was the whole village--about 40 people strong--dads carrying toddlers, young children, teenagers, grandparents. So, that´s the story on the frequent bar visits. Mainly that´s where I´m eating breakfast lunch and dinner.
After the last posting here, Ina, Christian and I wet out to dinner. Nigel later joined us. I don´t know if I have mentioned him. He is a British guy but has lived in Bilbao (in Northern Spain in the Basque Country) for 26 years. He is a violinist in the Bilbao symphony and is a very nice man. He is walking the camino in legs and does about a week every couple of years. We were fortunate to have him with us for a few days. Burgos was his last stop this go around and we will miss him.
Oh, Brian has alerted me that I am not always clear on which towns I have walked to each day. This makes it very difficult for him to figure out my progress on his elaborate map of the Camino which he flags, pins, and notes every step of my way. So, on the 17th we walked from Burgos to Hontanas and today, the 18th from Hontanas to Fromista.
Korean Dana never turned up in Burgos and Ina and I were pretty disappointed. We were about 2 hours out of Burgos on our walk when we thought we spotted her ahead of us. We finally caught up with her and had a happy reunion right on the Camino. The three of us walked the rest of the way to Hontanas together and we really needed each other´s support. It was only about 18 miles but a very hard 18 miles. Usually you can see the village that you will visit miles in advance but we walked a solid 7 miles with no sign of anything--no roads, no buildings (well one), no sign of anything. Pretty fields but unchanging scenery---no trees, just fields. Finally we saw a sign indicating that the town was about 500 meters away. We could still not see the village. Finally the road dipped and about 20 yards before the tiny village we could finally see it. It was a really hard walk. This, like many of the villlages enroute, is probably being kept alive by the Camino. It is a tiny little village and the only businesses there are the two bars connected to the albergues. The "car" in my title today is actually a truck. As the village has no shop, we were informed that a truck would roll through town at 6p.m. and we could go out and buy fruit, vegetables, yogurt, etc. It is a little store on wheels that serves this tiny community. So, it was with great surprise that while in this tiny town, in the middle of nowhere, when eating at the bar, the lady who runs the place came around the tables yelling ¨Laura Potts? Laura Potts? Telefono". I had used the pay phone to call my friend, Maite, earlier but there had been no answer. I guess Maite used the caller i.d. and called the payphone but I sure was shocked when I had a telephone call at this bar as nobody in the world knew I was there. Joining us for dinner last night were a girl from the Czech Republic (who must weigh about 90 pounds and carries about a 25 pound backpack) and stunning Kim, from Holland. Kim recently quit her job of 5 years as a criminal defense lawyer as in the words of M. Kem, she didn´t want more money, she wanted "less job." So, she is walking the Camino and will then go work for KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines as a flight attendant. I think she will soon become the featured flight attendant on all their ads, promotional videos, in flight procedural videos as she is incredibly beautiful and you could not find anyone who looks more typically Dutch than she.
Also adding to the cast of characters...in Burgos we met Florence a French woman who runs some sort of donkey farm in France where she builds elaborate donkey carts and then trains donkeys to pull the carts and shows people how to use the carts. She went to Mongolia to buy yurts (Mongolian tents) presumably to be used on the donkey carts. Sadly she fainted the other morning in the bar--it was pretty scary--she claims it was because she hadn´t had any bread the day before. I told Ina that if I happen to faint in a bar, to please try to kick the cigarette butts and trash out of the way before I hit the ground. Hero Christian, caretaker of the Camino, was there to revive her and to walk with her all day to make sure she got to the next spot safely.
I´m now on my vacation at my friend Maite´s house in Valladolid. I had a great shower, my clothes are in the wash and now it´s dinner time. It is really like living in luxury.